Toyota to Boost Scion Production

Because sales of the tall wagon have been nearly triple the company's expectations, 's U.S. arm is asking its parent company to increase production of the vehicle, Reuters reported, citing Scion Vice President Jim Farley.

"I was in Japan last week going to the plant asking for more cars," Farley said. Toyota makes the xB and the xA, a five-door hatchback, at its Takaoka plant in Japan, he said.

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Toyota sold 1,351 in California in June, currently its only market. Scion will expand to the east coast and the southeastern states early next year, and to the remainder of the country in the summer, when it will add a third vehicle to the lineup, the story said.

Senate Rejects SUV MPG Increase

The Senate, as part of the debate on a broad ranging energy bill, rejected a proposal to raise the fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, the Detroit News reported.

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The Senate voted down by a 32-65 margin a plan offered by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., which would have raised Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for cars to 40 miles per gallon by 2015 and increased light truck CAFE to 27.5 mpg by 2015.

Instead, Senators approve the so-called Levin-Bond plan by a 66-30 margin. This plan would give the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the authority to raise CAFE standards on cars for the first time since 1985. Currently, automakers' car fleets must average 27.5 mpg. Light truck fleets must average 20.7 mpg, but that standard is already set to increase to 22.2 mpg by the 2007 model year.

The Levin-Bond legislation would also allocate $50 million to the Department of Energy to research and develop gas-electric hybrid technology and accelerate efforts to increase the viability of clean diesel engines, the story said. The plan also calls for the federal government to purchase fuel-efficient hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles for its fleets.

High Priced Cars Are High Maintenance, Study Says

New Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs, Cadillacs, Land Rovers, Jaguars and Saabs are more likely to spend time in a dealership for repair work than many cheaper cars, USA Today reports, citing a J.D. Power and Associates survey, which asked 106,000 owners of vehicles up to 3 years old whether their service visits to dealerships were for repair work or maintenance.

According to the survey, which measured what percentage of service visits to dealerships were for repairs rather than maintenance, nine of 13 luxury brands scored worse than the industry average of 35%. Worst of 37 brands in the survey: Land Rover, with 62% of service calls for repairs. Best was Buick, which topped the list at 21%.

Repairs do not include routine maintenance or replacement of items that routinely wear out, like brakes and wiper blades.

Overall, the industry average improved from 41% repair work in 1999. But Mercedes owners said they visited dealerships 48% of the time for repairs in 2003, up from 43% in 1999.

Percentage of each brand's vehicles going in for service that needed repairs: